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City man sentenced to 12 years for 2011 shooting death
YOUNGSTOWN
A man charged with the death of a 16-year-old male on the city’s East Side in 2011 will spend the next 12 years behind bars.
Devante Gilmore, 18, of Brockway Avenue was charged originally with murder in the shooting death of 16-year-old De’Vail Fleeton, but in a plea agreement with prosecutors earlier this month, that charge was amended to involuntary manslaughter to which Gilmore pleaded guilty.
The case had been set for trial Monday before Lou A. D’Apolito of Mahoning County Common Pleas Court.
Judge D’Apolito sentenced Gilmore to nine years in prison on the involuntary-manslaughter charge. Gilmore also must serve a three-year prison sentence for using a gun in the commission of his crime before the prison time for manslaughter begins.
Fleeton was shot and killed while visiting a female friend on the East Side.
Witnesses told police five black men wearing black, hooded sweat shirts and red ball caps chased Fleeton on March 26, 2011, from the Plaza View Apartments across Stewart Avenue and McGuffey Road, firing at the teen as he ran. After he fell, the suspects ran back into the apartment complex.
Fleeton had been shot once in the back and later died of that gunshot wound.
Another man, Curtis Jones, 19, of Youngstown also was charged with murder in Fleeton’s death. He also pleaded guilty to a reduced charged of involuntary manslaughter in an agreement with prosecutors.
Jones was sentenced to nine years in prison and an additional three years for using a gun in the crime. He has been in prison since late last year.